What's more likely however, is that Nod never even knew that CABAL took the Tacitus from GDI and thus didn't know it was among the rubble of the Core in the first place.

Ah, good point. However, around the middle of both campaigns, when GDI captures a CABAL core and Nod destroys the mutant base, the details of the story get very messy and obscure, and it's difficult to pull together both sides of it. Frankly I'd rather not think about it

Even though I still think GDI and Nod would be interested to study the remains of the Core, as you said it was in reality a mere relay, hence we can speculate CABAL took the possibility of defeat into consideration and constructed the pseudo-Core in a way that would give no advantage to its conquerors (but still making it look like as if it were the real thing).

Bittah Commander

Posted: Wed Apr 20, 2016 2:08 pm Post subject:

During the GDI campaign, Dr. Boudreau stated that "at the present rate of tiberium organic synthesis, within a year -maybe less- our atmosphere will be 100% toxic to humans".
GDI was left with no other option but to get the necessary technology to reverse this from the Tacitus and it's of course possible that Nod was aware of this and allowed them to have the Tacitus because of this.

What's more likely however, is that Nod never even knew that CABAL took the Tacitus from GDI and thus didn't know it was among the rubble of the core in the first place. From what I can tell, neither GDI or Nod had any interest in salvaging CABAL's technology and they both just wanted to see it destroyed. And after what just happened, it'd only make sense that even Nod would have an aversion towards Cyborgs at this point and considering that short from the Core Defender (unless of course it uses a human brain for motion control, which wouldn't be that far-fetched), practically all of CABAL's technology is based on cyborgs, there's really nothing that neither GDI or Nod would even want to salvage.

Another thing to mention is that CABAL's "main core" that you destroy in Firestorm probably wasn't really his main core, but was actually some sort of disguised proxy server, so to speak. GDI and Nod merely detected that all of CABAL's commands were transmitted from that core and as we know, CABAL actually remained alive after this core was destroyed. So while it might have been possible to salvage some of CABAL's data from the destroyed core, CABAL's own technology and actual self were hidden away somewhere else, along with Kane's still recovering body.

So in conclusion, GDI and Nod didn't wanna salvage anything from the core's ruins (aside from the Tacitus, which only GDI knew about) and even if they did, there wouldn't have been anything there. So i think it'd indeed be quite unlikely that control of or access to the core's ruins to be the spark for some future conflict.

Crimsonum

Posted: Wed Apr 20, 2016 10:23 am Post subject:
Firestorm Aftermath

I want to feature the ruins of CABAL's core in a story, but I have trouble deciding how to proceed with it. The problem is, how would GDI and Nod handle the core after the events of Firestorm? Surely both factions hold keen interest in dismantling and salvaging the remains of CABAL's unique technology. At the same time, I can imagine how Nod could never allow GDI access on such invaluable tech, and vice versa. Hence my problem.

Towards the end of Firestorm, GDI and Nod entered a truce, and even formed a kind of alliance when they conducted a joint assault against CABAL's ultimate stronghold. Even though CABAL was the sole factor binding GDI and Nod together, I expect the factions to hold the truce for sometime as they are probably exhausted from fighting two global wars consecutively. Hence I don't think they would start a fight over the core and risk sparking another large-scale conflict.

One interesting detail to note is how GDI is shown to repossess the Tacitus in their epilogue. This means they must've retrieved it from CABAL (presumably from its main core) so... did they in fact reach the core before Nod did? Else why would Nod allow GDI to have the Tacitus? It's also interesting to note how the Nod Inner Circle responded when the player retrieved the Tacitus in mission 04. They appeared almost "afraid" of the Tacitus, showing contempt that the artifact was once again in their possession. Why? After all, the Tacitus is arguably the single most powerful object in the entire Tiberian saga.

So far the most logical conclusion I've come up with is a kind of neutral, demilitarized zone around the core, and neither faction is allowed to disassemble or study the core. Not the best outcome IMO, hence I'd like to hear your opinions as well.